“The quicker you can correct him in these split seconds he’s not going to get away.” This was the quote from my coach Belinda Trussell, in last week’s lessons, that has stuck in my mind. Belinda does not mean he will run off with me when she says Biasini will ” get away”. She means he will get away from the frame, the activity, and the impulsion I have just been working to create. In a split second all the preparatory work can evaporate and I have to start over to get him back.
The exercise we were doing when she said this was cantering down the long side, with three 10 meter circles, and in between the circles, travers or shoulder fore. Next, repeat this exercise on the diagonal going across the arena. I had to be making corrections every split second. Now a correction is not a big punishing reprimand, it is just a reminder of what we are doing, and how we are doing it. A small movement with the fingers or a pinch of the shoulder blades, a touch with the inside of the ankle, will suffice and if not then back to walk and the drawing board to make things clearer.
How fast is a split second anyway? The blink of an eye would be close I think.
We finished the week on a positive note with trot work : shoulder in , half pass to the quarter line, straighten , shoulder in the other direction, half pass to the rail, and at the rail renvers. And yes…..corrections every split second! It works! Here is video of that trot work.
- Featured image (C) Connie Gee.
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